Losing Weight by Walking?

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CryDor
CryDor Posts: 12
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm new here so please forgive me if this question has already been posted. I was curious if anyone has had any real success with weight loss by walking. And if so, how much did you lose, in what length of time did you lose it? Thanks!
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Replies

  • fabulousmomma
    fabulousmomma Posts: 172 Member
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    Hey! I walk 4 days a week. Approx. 35/40 minutes each time. And yes I've lost weight! and inches. I've only been at this for close to 3 weeks.
    If you wanna know what really works it's tracking your calories and stay within your goal. Eating healthier choices as well.
    Welcome and best of luck to ya!
  • TheKingsChampion
    TheKingsChampion Posts: 120
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    I also walk for exercise but I think the main thing I've lost weight with is a calorie deficit. I've lost 55lb with a combination of the two. And I lost that in 11.5 months time. :)

    Now after a 8 month maintenance break I'm back at it for the last few and using the same method.

    My walking distance ranges from 3-8 miles a day depending on how much time I have.
  • uconnwinsnc1
    uconnwinsnc1 Posts: 902 Member
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    Walking is a great way to clear your mind and stay active. If it is the only exercise you plan on doing, though, you need to be very smart with your calories. It doesn't really burn a lot of calories but it is still good for you.
  • Annie_01
    Annie_01 Posts: 3,096 Member
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    I walk anywhere from 15000 to 25000 steps a day...roughly 6 to 10 miles. I have lost 80lbs in a year.

    I don't walk necessarily to lose weight...I walk for health reasons...plus I love to walk.

    Right now I am working on speed. As your body becomes accustomed to walking you have to increase your efforts either through distance, incline or speed. If you have access to stairways try adding those in.

    Here is a site that I have been reading today that might help...

    http://walking.about.com/

    and

    a calculator

    http://walking.about.com/library/cal/uccalc3.htm
  • steff274
    steff274 Posts: 227 Member
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    More hiking really yes this is how I started losing walking up big hills with my otherhalf ;) I do alot in the gym now but I am going hiking with him on Friday in the Brecon becons from August until when I joined a gym in October well end of October I lost a stone and a half through hill walking and diet.. I lost another stone and a half after I joined the gym ;)
  • PokeyBug
    PokeyBug Posts: 482 Member
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    I used to be a runner, but I've been forced to walk for my exercise for the past 13 years (car accident). I use a treadmill, because my kids aren't old enough to leave alone in the house while I go walking. (We homeschool.) I walk at 3 mph on a 15% incline for 45 minutes, 5-6 days a week. According to this: http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/walking-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx, I burn about 500 calories per session. That's about half of what I'd burn if I could run, but it is what it is.

    I've always walked, but I haven't always watched what I eat, which is how I became a little less-than-svelte. While being physically active is important for health, exercise alone isn't going to help you lose very much weight. It's just not possible to eat a crap diet and then exercise enough to make up for it. My big 'diet' plan is to eat 500 calories less than the amount of calories I'll be allowed when I hit my goal weight, all healthy-type stuff, except for dinner on Saturday night. I don't exercise on Saturdays, and I allow myself 1 thing I can indulge in, as long as I don't go over my current TDEE.

    I've been losing a little less than 2 lbs/week so far, though I know that my weight loss will slow down as I get closer to my goal. I gained 30 pounds while I was walking, so changing my diet is 100% responsible for my weight loss. With my walking and other exercise (I do Callanetic for resistance training), I also burn about 500 calories per day, 6 days a week. So, I'd say that walking alone won't get you there, but it really gives a boost to weight loss at the same time.
  • Dragn77
    Dragn77 Posts: 810 Member
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    Well...many years ago, I was not able to drive my car for awhile, and so I had to walk everywhere. At this time, I was about 150 and a size 6...after 3 months (the amount of time I couldnt drive for), I was down to 135 and a size 2. My eating habits were fine, but I must have been eating at maintenance, and the walking put me in deficit. I was absolutely devastated because I wasn't trying to lose weight!! I lost every bit of curve I had. (Im 5'10" by the way)

    But I had to walk *everywhere* to check my mail everyday..that was a 10m away, I also bought groceries every day because I could only carry so much at once and I just *had* to have my wine with dinner every night, and that was about 20m away from home, except with a load of groceries, my arms looked pretty fierce from carrying that weight. Plus I had to walk kiddo to preschool every morning and back home every afternoon. So I was walking at least an hour and a half a day.

    Now Im trying to do it on purpose lol And so far, walking along with tracking what I eat, I have lost 9lbs in 3 weeks. But the first 5 dont reeeallly count because that was in my first week and Im sure just water weight. Its been a steady 2lbs a week since then.
  • JordanMK_
    JordanMK_ Posts: 54 Member
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    I walk/ride my bike everyday for 60 minutes, so far I have lost 25 kilogram. My average speed is 9.30 min / km so that's a really brisk pace. Walking is good for losing weight!
  • NYfirefighter
    NYfirefighter Posts: 31
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    It doesn't really burn a lot of calories but it is still good for you.
    Disagree with this
    Look it up on www.shapesense.com (you can set your own stats and pace, get a gross cal burned and convert that to net)
    You'll be surprised how much you can burn in an hour

    I'm going back to train for long distance (3 50 milers AKA Kennedymarches are my goals for next year)
    And wanna loose the +25 pounds I gained during a few months of PTSD related depression eating
    It's the perfect mix for me
    Exercise (both cardio and strength since my pack often weights atleast 10 pounds), work on the fat loss and clear my head
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    Walking is great. Lowish impact. Fresh air. Easy to do. Free.

    I walk, but not every day. It isn't my main thing. It's an add-on exercise. :)

    Any exercise will help you burn that fat. :)

    Keep it up.
  • quackers82
    quackers82 Posts: 55 Member
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    I do lots of walking, i can get up to 1000 extra calories a day just walking when i do 4 hours of it. I've got different routes i take 1 i know currently uses approximately 273 calories and takes an hour. Do that 4 times a day and you feel it.
  • JenSBrown2015
    JenSBrown2015 Posts: 34 Member
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    ive been on my weightloss journey for 433 days. I started at 247 and have lost 75 lbs and that's from eating at a deficit and walking. I was very sedentary when I started this and now get between 10000-15000 steps a day. the last few months I have been at a stand still because I am only 13 lbs away from my goal and I recently upped my calories and I am back losing. hoping to reach my goal in the new year :)
  • uconnwinsnc1
    uconnwinsnc1 Posts: 902 Member
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    It doesn't really burn a lot of calories but it is still good for you.
    Disagree with this
    Look it up on www.shapesense.com (you can set your own stats and pace, get a gross cal burned and convert that to net)
    You'll be surprised how much you can burn in an hour

    I'm going back to train for long distance (3 50 milers AKA Kennedymarches are my goals for next year)
    And wanna loose the +25 pounds I gained during a few months of PTSD related depression eating
    It's the perfect mix for me
    Exercise (both cardio and strength since my pack often weights atleast 10 pounds), work on the fat loss and clear my head

    In comparison to most other exercises, it doesn't burn a lot. Time:Calorie Burned ratio is on the low end. If someone has an hour to dedicate to it, though, I can see it being an effective weight loss method. Walking is great for lowering stress in my opinion.

    Have fun training for your goal!. :smile:
  • LadyVivica
    LadyVivica Posts: 84 Member
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    YUP, i walk throughout the day, 15 at break, 50 at lunch and 15 at break, and then 30-60 mins when i get home and I've lost 30 lbs in 3 months. Its been awesome, but i also watch my diet and drink nothing but water and tea.
  • HappyAnna2014
    HappyAnna2014 Posts: 214 Member
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    Great thread! I just started walking today, mostly for cardio exercise as recommended by my doctor, but the extra calories I "earn" are kind of nice to have, too.
  • FindingAmy77
    FindingAmy77 Posts: 1,266 Member
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    yes!!! me. most of my exercise comes from walking and in turn it has given me more energy to make cleaning into exercise as well. it has given me the courage and motivation to purchase a bike so I can bike to work and do errands too. I also try to get in a swim here and there too in our pool. walking is still my fav form of exercise.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
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    A calorie deficit is all that is needed for weight loss, the walking would be a good exercise for over all fitness but then again anything that gets you up and moving over doing nothing is a plus.... I had to enter a pool at 560 pounds to use water displacement to allow me to stand so that I could start exercising. I literally walked from one side of the therapy pool to the other and spent the next 17 months in the pool walking (among other exercises) and dropped over 170 lbs. From there I worked my way out of the pool and continued walking (again among other exercises). But weight loss start with calories in vs. calories out.... Best of Luck
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
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    Any exercise that helps create a calorie deficit will help you lose weight. The most important thing about choosing an exercise is to make sure you like it. If you try to get involved in an exercise you don't enjoy, it's 472689x harder to stick with it.
  • Turning_Hopes_to_Habits
    Turning_Hopes_to_Habits Posts: 103 Member
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    What walking has done for me is to enable me to gently have fun from day one and to start increasing my strength and endurance, while enjoying the exercise and fresh air. I took the long-term way and decided to be happy and satisfied with personal gains instead of empirical gains that more fit people would consider a day at the beach. A very lazy day at the beach. Like, not even swimming, LOL.

    So, I started with 30 minutes on a flat surface with my music at a comfortable time of day for me and enjoyed my thoughts and time to myself. Little by little I picked up the pace, not by design but just because it was getting easier and it just happened that I started walking a little faster. After about 3 weeks I realized there's another trail very close to my first one with some steeper hills. Now, the first 6 or 7 times on THAT trail had me huffing and puffing and struggling even going very slowly on the inclines, but it also has plenty of declines so I could get my breath back. And in between doing that hike, I'd do the really easy one next to it and around the playground for a few loops. After about two weeks or 6-7 walks, the inclines just had me a little winded, but it wasn't hard. So instead of doing the hard loop just once or twice per hour, I was doing it three times. Now, two months later, I usually do four.

    Yesterday I took a walk on the country road up to my parents' house which is also a little hilly, but I took a plastic bag and put on some gloves and I picked up the trash on the side of the road. Every time I picked up trash I squatted instead of bending over. Today my legs burn in a good way, it's a nice feeling.

    So, what walking has done for me over the past two months is to make me stronger. I'm not as weak, I don't need to take breaks and rest as often in day-to-day things, my muscles can do more. My next steps (ha, ha) will be to pick up the pace on my walks over the next month so I'm walking faster and maybe even sometimes doing a light jog for a few minutes every now and then when I feel like it and a particularly good song is on the IPod. And for Christmas, I'll be asking for a gym membership so I can take some Zumba and some Step classes and I know it will be a challenge to keep up, but it won't kill me and I will be able to do it.

    From my perspective, starting out walking and focusing on having fun and enjoying the alone time to think and listen to music and then just increasing the intensity as you feel like it is a wonderful way to start feeling strong again.
  • ScottDowell
    ScottDowell Posts: 95 Member
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    Walking is a best way to loose weight without dieting. If daily you walk early in the morning then it would be very effective for your health. For most of the women walking is best for their health. But you must know the proper way of having walk on how to do it effectively.

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